Dark matter: Now more mysterious than ever

Astronomers
have one more reason to scratch their heads over the unseen
material known as dark matter. Observations of two dwarf galaxies, Fornax and
Sculptor, show the dark matter within them is spread out
smoothly rather than heaped into a central bulge,
contradicting cosmological models.

Researchers know dark matter comprises a far greater percentage
of the universe than the ordinary matter making up things like
people and stars. Because of this, the distribution of dark matter
determines the structure of the cosmos. Galaxies form when they are
attracted to and anchored by large clumps of dark matter.

The dwarf galaxies Fornax and Sculptor are themselves made of 99 percent
dark matter and only 1 percent normal matter. It is impossible to
directly see the dark matter but, by observing the rotation of
stars around each galactic center, researchers can detect its
influence and map out its distribution.

While simulations suggest that the dark-matter density should
increase sharply near the galactic centers, the recent observations
found the dark matter spread relatively uniform throughout. Yet if
these dwarf galaxies have no "clump" in their center, then what is
pinning them in place?

It is possible that dark matter might interact more with
ordinary matter than currently thought, allowing the regular matter
to stir up the dark matter and spread it out. Alternatively, dark
matter might move faster than expected and therefore be less prone
to clumping in galactic centers. Either case creates many further
mysteries and problems for astronomers to keep mulling over.

Comments

Think of it this way,Voyager is 12 billion miles away from the sun but is still influenced by it.And we are one tiny solar system in a 100,000 ly across galaxy.How far do you think we might have to travel away from our galaxy to escape it's influence.The answer currently is not far enough,the Universe is still inter-connected gravitationally,so until it starts splitting apart you would be just captured by another galaxy or galaxy cluster.All this talk of dark matter is unnecessary and just confuses the issue.There is no dark matter and never has been.